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Start location file for the “Fluvial Particle” model used in generating particle tracking simulations of the dye release experiment at Searcys Bend near Columbia, Missouri, May 5, 2021

Published by U.S. Geological Survey | Department of the Interior | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2023-08-11T00:00:00Z
This dataset contains the particle starting locations for particle tracking simulations of the Searcys Bend dye release experiment using the “Fluvial Particle” particle tracking model. This file was generated to approximate the location and distribution of dye as observed in the first aerial image captured 3.5 minutes following the dye release. Although the total number of particles simulated is 1,500,000, simulations were run using a parallel version of the Lagrangian particle tracking algorithm distributed across 120 computational processing units (CPUs). Therefore, the file provides the location information for 12,500 particles (1,500,000 / 120 = 12,500). The file was created by georeferencing a line laterally through the dye plume as seen in aerial imagery and automating the generation of particles nonlinearly from the center of the channel towards each bank to simulate the dye release process whereby two boats began releasing dye from the middle of the channel as they drove towards each bank of the river. The nonlinear spacing simulates the gradual decrease in the flow rate of dye from the boat mounted barrels as the supply of dye diminished and was generated using a custom script written in the Python programming language. It should be noted that while the column headers are not included in the file due to it being formatted to be read by "Fluvial Particle". This dataset contains five different columns. The first represents time, the second is the x-coordinate, the third is the y-coordinate, the fourth is elevation, and the final is the number of particles released at that location.

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